Desert Island

It's an El Niño year, is it not? It has been so hot and dry on Saipan lately. Hotter and drier than I ever remember it being. It reminds me of summers in southern California. Summers so scorching hot the dry desert air would leave me feeling completely and painfully dehydrated after a 15 minute walk. Although on Saipan the air is humid; it's the land that is dry. Dry and cracking. Greens are fading to patches of gold and brown; a sight I've never before seen on Saipan - it seems biblical in nature. I feel this dry season gives a new meaning to the phrase "desert island".

It has been so hot and so dry that we have had several brush fires around the island; especially up where we live - and the smoke and ashes are further aggravating our already severe allergies caused by the layer of dust that seems to be covering the entire island because a real Saipan rain hasn't touched the ground in weeks. 

There were two fires today. One on either side of our family property.  The fire that was southeast of us was encroaching on my cousin's house. The house where he, his wife, and three children live. The fire that was northeast of us was on my uncle's property. It was quickly approaching our houses as the wind blew the flames southwest. We could hear the crackling of burning grass and leaves and wood. We saw smoke blowing down the hillside. It came in our house, it filled our nostrils and lungs, it clung to our clothes and seeped into our linens.

My poor son's allergies have just been terrible because of the dryness, absolutely terrible. There was no way I was going to let him stay there with smoke coming into our home from every open window and door (plus that whole oh my goodness we have two fires coming toward our house thing). So I packed up four kids and their half eaten happy meals and we prayed as we drove. We stopped over at the playground at Micro Beach. We stayed until my mom called to let me know the fires were out; one fire truck had left and the other would leave soon. The fires were out, but they smoldered for hours afterward. 

Praise the Lord that the fires are out and our homes are safe! But Saipan needs rain. Please pray for rain for our dry thirsty island.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of last week's Wednesday What Is It?

Toothbrush!

5 points to Glen!
2 points each to Bon, Sheila, and Shar

Great guessing everyone! Get ready....

State Your Question

In addition to verbing nouns and re-defining words, my good people of Saipan have also perfected the art of phrasing questions as statements. Allow me to demonstrate?

A person from Saipan would state, "That's yours?"
The rest of the world would ask, "Is that yours?"

A person from Saipan would state, "The food's ready?"
The rest of the world would ask, "Is the food ready?"

A person from Saipan would state, "You ate already?"
The rest of the world would ask, "Have you already eaten?"

A person from Saipan would state, "The kids are at the beach?"
The rest of the world would ask, "Are the kids at the beach?"

A person from Saipan would state, "That's what he said?"
The rest of the world would ask, "Is that what he said?"

You've seen this?

Because fun goodbyes are better than sad ones.

That was me on Wednesday.

This is me now:









I'd say altogether we chopped off about 15 inches. Don't worry, it'll grow back. And then I'll do it all over again.

I'll be donating 8-12 inch layers of minimally heat styled, dye-free hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Why not Locks of Love? Because I read this.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of the last Wednesday What Is It?

Wipes!

Acceptable: wipes, baby wipes, disinfecting wipes, wipes container, wet ones, wet wipes, clorox wipes

5 points to Bon!
2 points each to Punken, Sheila, Plumeria Girl

Blue

My sister saw me sprinkle my daughter's white nail glitter on my newly O.P.I polished toe nails and asked, "how old are you?"

"Fifteen", I replied.  

"Fifteen, what are you going to use on your fingers, blue?"

"Yes!"

(I'm loving all the nail polish my daughter received for her 5th birthday. Like this blue, and this coral.)

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of the last Wednesday What Is It?

9-Volt Battery!

Great guesses everyone!
And thank you for future WWII ideas.

Shar - I plan to get some stuff listed in the shop soon. But maybe not for another week. So I'm just gonna send your prize anyway. I'm sorry it's so late. But it's coming.

For Love of the Dance

I've always loved to dance. I can do the running man like nobody's business. I took jazz and ballet for several years as a kid. Although, I still don't really know what characterizes jazz dance. Maybe that's because I had to choose between Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies (ballet) and Jingle Bell Rock (jazz) for our Christmas recital one year and I chose ballet. I was regretful for years.

Have I ever told you that I love to hula? If you've been reading me long enough, then yes, I've told you that once or twice (or more) before. I used to hula on stage, I've even taught hula classes a few times. I haven't taught hula since I was was pregnant with my son and I haven't danced on a stage in years, in at least ten years. Well, not up until a few weeks ago.

Two years ago, my friend Missy and I teamed up to open a booth at the 27th annual Flame Tree Arts Festival. It was so much fun! We sold bags, shirts, jams, and we even gave out free knitting lessons. Last year, my friends Lyn and Geraldine and I shared a booth. It was great!
The end of April brought the 29th annual Flame Tree Arts Festival to Saipan. I did not have a booth, but I did dance.

Disturbia

I have this friend, let's call her Lyn. Let's call her that because that is her name. I received a call from Lyn a few weeks ago as I was heading out the door to go to work. Lyn told me some disturbing and great news. She dreamed that I had passed away. Those were her words, "passed away". She was trying to be nice about it, but there is no way to be nice about it.

"Hey friend, it's 7:30 in the morning, I know you're just beginning your day and you probably haven't even had your coffee yet, but I just wanted to tell you that I had a dream last night that you died."

"What! You dreamed that I what?!"

"No, friend. I didn't mean you died, I meant you passed away."

"Oh, whew! What a relief. Well, in that case, was there enough food at my wake?"

It was such a vivid dream that her husband had to wake her up because she was literally crying in her sleep. She said I was so beautiful. Well, I'm glad for that, but oh my gosh she dreamed that I died! It's a good thing I'm not some crazy OCD person, because I can imagine this sort of phone call could set off a lot of ritualistic behaviors in some people. But not in me. Nope. I'm not OCD prone.

But I do have certain dream rules. For example, if I tell another person about something I dreamed about, it won't come true - it's even better if I can tell it to the person or persons who were in the dream. Also, I'm not totally convinced that if I die in my own dreams that I'll really die in real life, but I don't ever want to die in my dreams. Ever. Oh, and if I wake during the night in the middle of a nightmare, which I frequently have, I must reposition my arms. If I reposition my arms I will start a new dream, usually one not of the nightmare variety; but if keep my arms in the same position, I will usually continue the same nightmare or start another terribly frightening dream. And, this is not so much of a rule as it is an observation, but my only recurring dreams are nightmares, which I tend to have while sleeping on my back.

So you might have thought that Lyn's early morning phone call of death was quite disturbing, but now you know it was really a loving act of kindness. It was her way of keeping me alive.

Do you have dream rules?